Container centering device

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for centering open top containers, such as bottles, relative to elongated tubes so that when the container is raised to filling position the tube will be properly aligned with the opening in the container. The apparatus includes a positioning member having surrounding walls adjacent a bottom portion defining a recess with an inner camming surface of said surrounding wall being inclined upwardly towards the center of the positioning member. The positioning member is supported on a pivotal arm which permits the positioning member to be retracted as the article is raised to the filling position. An elongated camming surface is provided closely adjacent the container loading and unloading stations for raising the positioning member in order that the containers may be loaded and unloaded from stirrups utilized in the filling operation. A resilient member is used for forcing the positioning member downward on the top of the container for insuring proper alignment therewith.

United States Paten Hartnesset al.

1 CONTAINER CENTERING DEVICE [76] Inventors: Thomas P. Hartness, 305

- Bridgewater Dr.; Robert G.

Hartness, 203 Wilmington Rd., both of Greenville, SC. 29607; Thomas S.Hartness, 1101 86th St., Marathon, Fla. 33052 22 Filed: Mar. 7, 1973 21Appl. No: 338,990

[52] US. Cl. 141/165 [51] Int. Cl B65b 43/42 [58] Field'of Search53/367; 141/62, 165, 166,

Campbell et a1 141/165 X Primary Examiner-Houston S. Bell, Jr.

Assistant Examiner-Frederick R. Schmidt Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Bailey& Dority [5 7 ABSTRACT An apparatus for centering open top containers,such as bottles, relative to elongated tubes so that when the containeris raised to filling position the tube will be properly aligned with theopening in the container. Theapparatus includes a positioning memberhaving surrounding walls adjacent a bottom portion defining a recesswith an inner camming surface of said surrounding wall being inclinedupwardly towards the center of the positioning member. The positioningmember is supported on a pivotal arm which permits the positioningmember to be retracted as the article is raised to the filling position.An elongated camming surface is provided closely adjacent the containerloading and unloading stations for raising thepositioning member inorder that the containers may be loaded and unloaded from stirrupsutilized in the filling operation. A resilient member is used forforcing the positioning member downward on the top of the container forinsuring proper alignment therewith.

8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTED RED 2 4 I974 SHKET103 CONTAINERCENTERING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates toan apparatus for centering open top containers, and more particularly toan apparatus for aligning the open top of a container with'a tubeprovided on a liquid dispensing apparatus. The tube on mostapparatus isused as a vent tube, however,

on some apparatus it is used to fill the container with of the bottle,possibly damaging the bottle and the tube.

One attempt to eliminate this problem is disclosed in US. Pat. No.3,580,299 which discloses a container filling device wherein, bottlesare fed onto an annular platform which is adapted to rotate withtheconventional filler bowl. As the platform is rotated a centering head islowered down on top of the bottle for aiding in aligning the bottle.After the centering head has been placed on the bottle a tube isinserted therein for filling the bottle with liquid.'While suchapparatus may operate satisfactorily, the normal or conventional fillingdevice is provided with stirrups rather than the annular platform whichare raised as the filler bowl is rotated to insert a sniff tube into thethroat of the bottle. Considerable modification of these apparatus wouldbe necessary to incorporate the device shown in the Alkalay US. Pat. No.3,580,299.

Another attempt for centering bottles relative to a sniff tube of abottle filling machine is disclosed in US, Pat. No. 3,502,120 granted toLars G. Rydstrom. This device includes a rotating disc similar to a starwheel which engages the upper neck portion of the bottle for positivelypositioning the upper portion of the bottle relative to the dischargetube.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention includes an apparatus forcentering an open top container so that an elongated sniff tube of aliquid filling device can be inserted therein for filling the containerwith liquid. The liquid filling device may be any suitable conventionalfilling apparatus, such as presently being used for filling soft drinkbottles having elongated necks. Normally, the liquid filling deviceincludes a plurality of movable stirrups which support the bottles andareshifted vertically from a loading position to a filling positionwhile being rotated in a circular path. The elongated sniff tubes areinserted in the bottles when the stirrups raisthe bottles to a fillingposition. The apparatus forming the subject invention includes aplurality of positioning members having a surrounding wall adjacent abottom portion defining a recess. An inner camming surface of thesurrounding wall is inclined upwardly towards the center of thepositioning member. Pivotal means support the positioning members abovethe containers so that the top of the containers engage the inclinedcamming surfaces of the positioning members as the container is shiftedvertically to the filling position. When the top of a container engagesthe inclined camming surface such causes the container to be alignedwith the sniff tube. A support member is provided for carrying thepivotal means adjacent the container for permitting the positioningmember to be pivoted out of the path of the container as the containeris shifted vertically beyond a predetermined point to the fillingposition. The positioning member has an elongated slot extending from anouter periphery adjacent the center thereof so as to permit thedischarge tube to pass therethrough into the container. As thecontainers are raised to the filling position the slot permits thepositioning members to be pivoted out of the path of the container.

Another elongated camming surface is carried between the stations wherethe containers are loaded and unloaded onto the stirrups. This elongatedcamming surface engages the pivotal means as the centering apparatuspasses thereby for raising such so as to permit the containers to beinserted on and removed from the stirrups.

Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention toprovide an apparatus which aids in aligning containers relative to snifftubes of a conventional following specification, attendant claims anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view, with partsremoved for purposes of clarity, illustrating a portion of aconventional bottle filling apparatus modified in accordance with thesubject invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view illustrating various positions ofthe bottle aligning device and the bottles while loading and unloadingthe bottles from the stirrups,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view illustrating a containeraligning device constructed in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view taken along line 44 ofFIG. 7,

FIG. 5 is an elevational view illustrating a resilient member used forapplying pressure to the top of the container positioning member,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged elevational view of a camming surface used forraising and lowering the containerpositioning members for loadingand'unloading containers from the moving stirrups, and

FIG. 7 is a plan view taken from the bottom illustrating a positioningmember constructed in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring in more detail to FIG.1 of the drawings,

filling device, such as used for filling soft drink bottles and thelike. The device includes a cylindrical filler bowl 110 which is rotatedin a clockwise direction during the filling operation. Bottles are fedto the liquid fillingmachine by means of a conveyor bed 12 which feedsthe bottles 16 into a rotating star wheel 15. The star wheel rotates ina counterclockwise direction delivering the bottles onto stirrups 18which are rotated with the filler bowl 10. The stirrups are capable ofbeing shifted from a lower loading and unloading position to an upperposition wherein the top or throat of the bottle engages a filling valve20 forming part of the liquid filling device. The filling valve 20, ofcourse, is also rotated with the filler bowl. Another star wheel 22which also rotates in a counterclockwise direction is positionedlaterally of the input star wheel for removing the bottles from thestirrups after they have been filled by liquid. The filled bottles 16are then fed away from the liqui filling machine by means of a conveyor24.

The filler valve 20, shown in more detail in FIG. 3 is circular in shapeand is provided to be activated when the top of the bottle 16 comes inphysical contact therewith. Centrally located relative to the fillervalve and extending downwardly therefrom is a vertical sniff tube 26.When the top of the bottle 16 engages the filler valve 20 liquid iscaused to flow through the sniff tube 26 to fill the bottle. The entireapparatus is suitably supported on a structure, not shown, with flatframe members 28 being interposed between the star wheels 15 and 22 withan inner end of the frame member 28 terminating closely adjacent thefiller bowl. The structure described to this point in the'detailedportion of the specification'forms a part of the standard .orconventional container filling device, such as is presently being usedfor filling soft drink bottles.

One of the problems encountered in filling containers, such as narrowneck bottles, is that when the stirrups raise the bottles to the fillingposition, if the neck of the bottle is not aligned properly with thesniff tube 26 the tube engages the bottle damaging the sniff tubecarried on the filler bowl so that as the bottles are fed from the inputstar wheel 15 such are held in position by these U-shaped resilientclamp means. These clamp means, however, have not proven to becompletely satisfactory.

In order to minimize the problem of aligning the bottles with the snifftube 26 a positioning member, generally designated by the referencecharacter 30, is provided for engaging the top portion of the bottle asit moves vertically upwardly on the stirrups 18 to insure that the topof the bottle is in proper alignment with the sniff tube 26. Thepositioning member 30 is constructed of any suitable material, such asnylon, and includes a surrounding wall 32 which has an inner circularcamming surface 33, which inclines upwardly towards the center of thepositioning member 30.

The inclined camming sufrace 33 terminates in a vertical surface 34which is parallel to the center axis of the positioning member 30. Theinclined camming surface 33 with the vertical surface 34 define acircular recess which is slightly larger than'the top of a bottle sothat when the bottle is inserted therein, such directs the top of thebottle to the desired aligned position for receiving the sniff tube 26.The positioning member 30 has a forward wall 35 which extends upwardlyfrom the bottom of the side wall 32 at an angle of approximately degreesfrom the vertical, then extends straight up as at 36 and rearwardly asat 37. The purpose of the inclined surface 35 is to prevent the lip 16aof the bottle from hanging up on the positioning member when the bottleis lowered after filling. As can be seen in FIG. 7, the overallconfiguration is substantially circular.

An elongated rectangular slot 38 extends from the outer edge of thepositioning member 30 slightly beyond the center thereof. The sniff tubeextends through this elongated slot 38 when being inserted into thebottle 16. The elongated slot 38 also permits the positioning head 30 tobe pivoted out of the path of the bottle, such as is shown in FIG. 3,when the bottle is being raised to the filling position where the top isin engagement with the filler valve 20.

' A pivotal means 39 taking the form of an elongated arm is secured to afiat portion 40 of the positioning head by means of a screw 41. The armextends downwardly and has a bifurcated lower end 42. The lower end 42has a hole extending therethrough through which a pin 43 passes topivotally secure the bifurcated end 42 to a support member 44. Thesupport member 44 has holes 45 vertically spaced therein so that theheight of the pivotal connection of the arm 39 may be adjusted toaccommodate different size bottles. A slot-' ted insert 46 is bolted tothe bottom portion of the support 44 by a bolt 47 and has an inclinedupper surface 48 which engages the bottom of the arm 39 for limiting thedownward pivotal movement of the positioning member 30. Since the bolt47 extends through a slotted portion of the insert 46, the insert can beadjusted vertically so as to adjust the downward height that the pivotalmeans'39 is allowed to drop. A retaining band 46a extends around thefiller bowl l0 and is bolted by bolt 47 to the support member 44 foradding strength thereto. The support member 44 has an outwardlyextending flange 49 welded to the top thereof, through which a bolt 50passes for securing the support 44 to the filler bowl 10.

In order to insure that the positioning members 30 are raised highenough not to interfere with the loading and unloading of the bottles 16from the stirrups 18 an elongated camming means 51 is carried betweenthe loading and unloading star wheels 15 and 22. The'elongated cammingsurface 51, which is best seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, is circular, and hasa radius substantially equal to the radius of the filler tank 10.Adjacent a leading end is an inclined surface 52 which engages thepivotal arms 39 causing the positioning member 30 to be raised as itreaches the unloading star wheel 22. The

cammming surface 52 terminates in a horizontal portion 53 which holdsthe positioning head in the slightly raised position, such as shown inFIG. 2, until after the particular positioning head 30 is rotated beyondthe position where the in-feed star wheel 15 places another bottle 16 onthe stirrup 18. The camming member 51 is supported on a vertical bracket54 which has a horizontal flange 55 adjacent the bottom thereof. Bolts56' tioning member 30 forcing such down onto the top of the bottle.

The spring bias member 57 includes an elongated tongue-shaped springsteel member 58 which is bolted to a support bracket 59. The supportbracket 59 is welded to a vertical square-shaped bar member 60. The barmember 60 is sandwiched between a pair of plates 61 (FIG. 5) which arecarried on opposite sides of the conventional sniff ring 62. The sniffring 62 extends circumferentially around the filler bowl 10. Byloosening the bolts 63 extending through the plates 61 the height of themember 60 can be adjusted for varying the pressure applied by the springmember 58 on the top of the positioning members 30 and for accommodatingdifferent size bottles.

Summarizing the operation of the device, bottles or any other suitablecontainers are fed by an infeed star wheel onto-the sitrrups 18 while ina lower loading position After the bottles 16 are placed on the stirrupsthe positioning member 30 drops down over the top of the bottle and thespring member 58 forces the positioning member 30 downwardly over thetop. The inclined camming surface 33 of the positioning member 30directs the top of the bottle to the center of the positioning member30. Thus, if the bottle is slightly out of alignment, it causes thebottle to shift into proper alignment.

The stirrups 18 are then raised vertically towards a filling position,wherein, the sniff tube 26 passes through the elongated slot 38 in thepositioning head 30. As the bottle 16 is raised further such causes thepositioning head to be pivoted rearwardly. The bottle 16 is then shiftedup until it comes in contact with the 1 filling valve 20 which causesthe liquid to be inserted While the filler tank 18 and the bottles arerotated the liquid is placed in the bottles. After the bottles arefilled with liquid the stirrups 18 are lowered and the positioningmembers 30 drop by gravity. When the filled bottles 16 reach adjacentthe discharge star wheel 22 the pivotal arms 39 engage the inclinedsurface 52 of a camming member 51 raising the positioning head off ofthe bottles 16. Star wheel 22 then removes the filled bottles from thestirrups l8 and feeds such out on a conveyor 24.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described usingspecific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, andit is to be understood that changes and variations may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for centering an opentop container so'that an elongatedtube of a liquid filling device can be inserted therein when fillingsaid container with liquid, said liquid filling device including amovable stirrup which supports said container and is capable of beingshifted vertically from a loading position to a filling position whereinsaid elongated tube is inserted in said container, said apparatuscomprising: a positioning member having a surrounding wall adjacent abottom portion defining a recess, an inner camming surface of saidsurrounding wall being inclined upwardly towards the center of saidpositioning member, pivotal means supporting said positioning memberabove said container so that the top of said container engages saidinclined inner surface of said positioning member for aligning said topof said container with said tube, and a cam means for engaging saidpositioning member for forcing said positioning member down on top ofsaid container for insuring proper alignment of said container, wherebysaid positioning member aligns said container with said tube and is thenretracted out of the path of said vertical movement of said container soas to not interfere with filling of said, container.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cam means is aspring biased member.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cam means includesan elongated tongue shaped spring steel member which engages a topportion of said positioning member.

4. An apparatus for use on a bottle filling machine for aiding inpositioning narrow neck bottles in alignment with elongated tubesforming part of a liquid filling apparatus as said bottles are shiftedin a circular path on V stirrups, said bottles being fed onto saidstirrups at a loading station, filled with liquid as they are shifted insaid circular path and then removed from said stirrups when saidstirrups reach an unloading station, after said bottles are loaded onsaid stirrups, said stirrups are raised vertically from a loadingposition to a liquid filling position wherein said tubes are inserted insaid nar row neck bottles, said apparatus comprising: positioningmembers having a recess in the bottom thereof defined by an inclinedwall terminating in a vertical wall of a diameter greater than thediameter of the tops of said bottles being filled, pivotal meanssupporting said positioning members above said bottles in alignment withsaid tubes so that when said bottles are raised vertically on saidstirrups the tops of said bottles engage said inclined walls of saidpositioning members which direct the top into the portions of therecesses defined by said vertical walls insuring proper alignment withsaid tubes, and slots extending laterally from the outer periphery ofsaid positioning members to adjacent the center thereof for allowingsaid elongated tubes to extend into said bottles, and a support carryingsaid pivotal means adjacent said bottles for permitting said positioningmember to be pivoted out of the path of said bottles as said bottles areshifted vertically beyond a predetermined point, whereby saidpositioning members aid in aligning said bottles with said tubes and arethen retracted out of the path of said bottles so as not to interferewith filling said bottles.

5. The apparatus as set forth in calim 4, wherein said positioningmember has an outer wall on an opposite side from said support which isinclined outwardly and upwardly from the bottom thereof so as to preventthe tops of said bottles from hanging on said support means afterfilling.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further comprising: resilientmeans carried adjacent said loading station engaging said positioningmembers for forcing said positioning members down on top of said bottlesfor insuring proper alignment of said bottles.

7. The apparatus as set forthin claim 6, wherein said resilient meansincludes an elongated tongue shaped spring steel member which engages atop portion of said positioning members as they pass thereunder.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein said positioning memberhas an inclined upper surface which said tongue shaped spring steelmember engages when aligning said bottles.

1. An apparatus for centering an open top container so that an elongatedtube of a liquid filling device can be inserted therein when fillingsaid container with liquid, said liquid filling device including amovable stirrup which supports said container and is capable of beingshifted vertically from a loading position to a filling position whereinsaid elongated tube is inserted in said container, said apparatuscomprising: a positioning member having a surrounding wall adjacent abottom portion defining a recess, an inner camming surface of saidsurrounding wall being inclined upwardly towards the center of saidpositioning member, pivotal means supporting said positioning memberabove said container so that the top of said container engages saidinclined inner surface of said positioning member for aligning said topof said container with said tube, and a cam means for engaging saidpositioning member for forcing said positioning member down on top ofsaid container for insuring proper alignment of said container, wherebysaid positioning member aligns said container with said tube and is thenretracted out of the path of said vertical movement of said container soas to not interfere with filling of said container.
 2. The apparatus asset forth in claim 1 wherein said cam means is a spring biased member.3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cam means includesan elongated tongue shaped spring steel member which engages a topportion of said positioning member.
 4. An apparatus for use on a bottlefilling machine for aiding in positioning narrow neck bottles inalignment with elongated tubes forming part of a liquid fillingapparatus as said bottles are shifted in a circular path on stirrups,said bottles being fed onto said stirrups at a loading station, filledwith liquid as they are shifted in said circular path and then removedfrom said stirrups when said stirrups reach an unloading station, aftersaid bottles are loaded on said stirrups, said stirrups are raisedvertically from a loading position to a liquid filling position whereinsaid Tubes are inserted in said narrow neck bottles, said apparatuscomprising: positioning members having a recess in the bottom thereofdefined by an inclined wall terminating in a vertical wall of a diametergreater than the diameter of the tops of said bottles being filled,pivotal means supporting said positioning members above said bottles inalignment with said tubes so that when said bottles are raisedvertically on said stirrups the tops of said bottles engage saidinclined walls of said positioning members which direct the top into theportions of the recesses defined by said vertical walls insuring properalignment with said tubes, and slots extending laterally from the outerperiphery of said positioning members to adjacent the center thereof forallowing said elongated tubes to extend into said bottles, and a supportcarrying said pivotal means adjacent said bottles for permitting saidpositioning member to be pivoted out of the path of said bottles as saidbottles are shifted vertically beyond a predetermined point, wherebysaid positioning members aid in aligning said bottles with said tubesand are then retracted out of the path of said bottles so as not tointerfere with filling said bottles.
 5. The apparatus as set forth incalim 4, wherein said positioning member has an outer wall on anopposite side from said support which is inclined outwardly and upwardlyfrom the bottom thereof so as to prevent the tops of said bottles fromhanging on said support means after filling.
 6. The apparatus as setforth in claim 4, further comprising: resilient means carried adjacentsaid loading station engaging said positioning members for forcing saidpositioning members down on top of said bottles for insuring properalignment of said bottles.
 7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6,wherein said resilient means includes an elongated tongue shaped springsteel member which engages a top portion of said positioning members asthey pass thereunder.
 8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 whereinsaid positioning member has an inclined upper surface which said tongueshaped spring steel member engages when aligning said bottles.